How effective are maternal effects at having effects?

The well studied trade-off between offspring size and offspring number assumes that offspring fitness increases with increasing per-offspring investment. Where mothers differ genetically or exhibit plastic variation in reproductive effort, there can be variation in per capita investment in offspring, and via this trade-off, variation in fecundity. Variation in per capita investment will affect juvenile performance directly—a classical maternal effect—while variation in fecundity will also affect offspring performance by altering the offsprings' competitive environment. The importance of this trade-off, while a focus of evolutionary research, is not often considered in discussions about population dynamics. Here, we use a factorial experiment to determine what proportion of variation in offspring performance can be ascribed to maternal effects and what proportion to the competitive environment linked to the size–number trade-off. Our results suggest that classical maternal effects are significant, but that in our system, the competitive environment, which is linked to maternal environments by fecundity, can be a far more substantial influence

Virtual Reality after Surgery—A Method to Decrease Pain After Surgery in Pediatric Patients

Background: Virtual Reality (VR) is used as an effective tool for distraction and as an adjunct for pain management. This study was conducted to compare VR to standard iPad use after surgery and examine its effect on pain score and opioid consumption. Methods: This was a randomized controlled study, with stratification by surgery type, age group (7-12yo, 13-18yo) and gender. Pain and anxiety were assessed with validated scales (STAI, FACES, VAS, FLACC) and outcomes were compared between each group. Results: 50 of the 106 enrolled patients used the VR device. After adjusting for age, gender, and STAI, patients had a decreased FLACC score while using the VR device compared to the iPad group (odds ratio 2.95, P =.021). The younger patients were found to have lower FLACC scores while using the VR device (odds ratio 1.15, p=0.044); this finding was most significant when patients used the VR device for 20-30 minutes (odds ratio 1.67, P =.0003). Additionally, after adjusting for treatment group, gender, and STAI, the younger patients had higher odds of withdrawal or exclusion from the study (odds ratio 1.18, P =.021). No significant difference in opioid consumption between the groups was found. Discussion: Virtual reality was well tolerated and more effective in decreasing pain during the immediate postoperative period than iPad use. Despite a slightly higher withdrawal rate, younger patients benefited more from the intervention

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Mesospheric temperatures and sodium properties measured with the ALOMAR Na lidar compared with WACCM

We present a comparison of the temperature and sodium layer properties observed by the ALOMAR Na lidar (69.3°N, 16.0°E) and simulated by the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with specified dynamics and implemented sodium chemistry (WACCM-Na). To constrain the meteorological fields below 60. km, we use MERRA and GEOS-5. For the years 2008 to 2012, we analyse daily averages of temperature between 80.5. km and 101.5. km altitude, and of the Na layer's peak height, peak density, and centroid height. Both model runs are able to reproduce the pronounced seasonal cycle of Na number density and temperature at high latitudes very well. Especially between 86.5. km and 95.5. km, the measured and simulated temperatures agree very well. The lidar measurements confirm the model predictions that the January 2012 stratospheric warming led to large variation in temperature and Na density. The correlation coefficient between Na number density and temperature is positive for almost all altitudes in the lidar data, but not in the simulations. On average, the centroid height and peak height measured by lidar is about 2. km-3. km higher than simulated by WACCM-Na